The teachers stood like statues, their eyes wide, their breaths shallow, as if the air had become too heavy for their lungs. One of them opened his mouth to speak, but his voice came out hoarse, the words eluding him.
Another gripped his head, stepping back with tentative steps, as though afraid to glance back. Amer scanned their faces with his eyes, seeing the same expression on everyone—unease, distress, and minds refusing to believe what they were witnessing.
The students were in a state of extreme panic—some collapsed onto the sand, wailing hysterically, while others let out terrified screams. Amid the chaos, one of them stood, shouting, his voice filled with fear and despair:
"What's happening?! What is that?!"
But no one answered.
Some rushed forward blindly, stumbling over the sand and pushing others out of their way in their panic, while others clung to the rocks, shaking as if trying to merge with them.
One student fell to his knees, pounding the dry earth with his fists, dust flying around him as if his inner torment had erupted outward.
Amer's heart beat violently, its pulses ringing in his ears. Everything felt wrong—chaotic—as if he had slipped into a living nightmare.
And yet, while fear gripped everyone else, Amer was the only one walking steadily toward the teachers.
In a calm but firm voice, he said:
"Please, let's take a deep breath. You are the most experienced here, and you are the ones best equipped to handle the situation. You are the teachers, and the students are relying on you to protect them."
His words pierced through the wall of panic that had paralyzed the teachers, and little by little, their features began to regain some composure.
Among them, Teacher Ishtar was the most affected; the paleness of her face and the trembling of her hands revealed her deep anxiety.
Amer realized that she needed words to pull her out of the whirlpool of fear. He approached her and spoke in a calm yet powerful tone:
"Teacher Ishtar, I know this situation is tough for all of us, but we need you. Panic won't help. Stay strong… the students need your strength now more than ever."
Then Amer turned to the rest of the teachers, who were beginning to regain their composure despite the dust hindering their vision, and spoke firmly:
"We need to act quickly. The students are terrified, and if we lose control, things will only get worse. Let's divide the tasks—we need to calm the students and figure out the cause of this storm."
As the teachers regained their composure, everyone rushed toward the students, whose screams echoed in the air.
Amid the chaos, Sarah approached, her eyes filled with tears, fear etched across her face. Suddenly, she rushed toward Amer, pleading:
"Amer... where are we? How did we get here? Please, don't leave me. Stay with me."
Amer looked at her with understanding, gently placing his hands on her cheeks to calm her, then said in a steady, reassuring voice:
"Sarah, the situation is unclear and difficult, but we won't know what happened until we calm everyone down. Can I count on you to help?"
Sarah was taken aback by his kindness, but she quickly regained her composure. Her tears stopped, and she nodded, trying to hold herself together.
At that moment, she rushed toward Zahra, who called out to her in fear, while Amer called out to Aram. He saw him standing frozen, his eyes reflecting terror and confusion.
Amer rushed to him, trying to calm him down, and said in a steady voice:
"Aram, what's wrong? Stay strong, my friend. We're together, and we need to survive."
Aram looked at him, his face showing uncertainty and fear. After a moment of silence, he took a deep breath and said in a trembling voice:
"I don't know, Amer... everything is out of control. How did we end up here?"
Amer placed his hand on his shoulder and gently squeezed, speaking firmly:
"I don't understand what happened either, but we need to calm down first. If we keep our composure, we'll be able to think clearly. There's no option but to stick together."
The astonishment began to fade from Aram's eyes, and he slowly looked around, as if the scene before him was finally starting to become clear.
With all the strength they had left, and after great effort, everyone began to regain their balance little by little. They gathered in silence, surrounded by a circle of molten sand beneath the scorching sun's glow.
Amer lifted his gaze to the sky, then scanned the faces around him before speaking in a calm voice, as if carefully searching for the right words:
*"There are three truths everyone must realize at this moment:
First: We don't know where we are, and we have no information about this place.
Second: We have no idea how or why this mysterious transition happened that threw us into the heart of this endless desert.
And third, and this is the hardest... we came here as we are, carrying nothing but the clothes on our backs. No water to quench our thirst, no food to ease our hunger, and nothing but what we have with us.
And now, we stand in this vast expanse of endless sand, facing an unknown fate."*
Professor Mahyar spoke, his voice filled with confusion and terror, revealing his deep concern:
"How did we get here? For heaven's sake, is this real, or are we trapped in an endless nightmare?"
Professor Juan responded, his eyes filled with worry, as if his heart was beating like drums of danger:
"We need to decide. Do we stay here frozen in our confusion, or do we venture forward into this maze?"
Mahyar laughed bitterly, his anger rising with each word:
"Venture forward? Have you lost your mind? Where do we go in this desolate wasteland with no clue about what's going on? We don't even know how we got here or who put us here. Walking in this cursed place is nothing but suicide!"
The guide intervened, his voice calm like a cool breeze in the midst of the storm, trying to ease the tension:
"But don't forget, this is a merciless desert. If we want to survive, the first thing we need is water and food... and without them, life will be nothing but an illusion."
Mahyar smiled a dry smile, as if his heart had frozen in his chest:
"I know that very well. But think rationally—what happened was no accident. We're here because someone wanted this. And if someone put us in this predicament, they certainly know the truth... and we will discover their identity soon."
The guide looked at Professor Mahyar with eyes full of doubt, and said with hesitation:
"Do you mean we were kidnapped? That we're here in isolation while negotiations are happening elsewhere?"
Juan answered, his face reflecting tension and confusion, as though the words were difficult for him to say:
"Or maybe... maybe we're here because the negotiations failed, and no one will come to rescue us."
Mahyar shook his head violently, as if the words were insufficient to respond to such nonsense:
"You're wrong. If the negotiations had failed, we wouldn't be alive right now. If they had failed, our fate would have been sealed immediately, and we wouldn't be speaking here. We're here because something bigger than this is about to happen."
Professor Juan said in a voice filled with despair, looking at Mahyar:
"No, you fool! Maybe they didn't kill us immediately because they left us a glimmer of hope. They left the door open for those negotiating with them, perhaps to toy with our fate."
Mahyar replied, a sarcastic smile on his lips, as if the words filled his heart with bitterness:
"You said it yourself, there's hope. And that means they'll come back to us, they'll do it to hold our lives hostage in exchange for money."
Juan responded in a pessimistic tone, as if despair had completely overtaken him:
"Maybe, and maybe not. If the negotiations failed, we'll die in this desert, and no one will remember us. We'll be just corpses buried in the sand, and no one will care to get us out of this hell."
The guide intervened with a calm yet firm voice, pointing out that time waits for no one:
"Then, we must find a way to survive on our own, regardless of the reason we're here."
Mahyar looked down at the ground before lifting his head, asking in a tone devoid of hope:
"Survive? Where do we start? And how?"
Juan replied, cautiously eyeing the horizon, as if the solution lay at their feet:
"We have to walk, we need to search in a certain direction. The only way forward is to move forward."
Mahyar shook his head in disbelief, his eyes reflecting doubt and worry:
"I told you, walking without knowing the reason behind what happened to us, without a clear direction, is certain suicide. And don't forget we have nothing. No food, no water. Every step we take will drain our strength, and we won't be able to keep going forever."
Juan spoke, as if his words were a harsh statement of truth:
"But every minute we spend here, sitting still, is one less minute of our remaining life."
The guide looked at them with ancient wisdom, his voice carrying the weight of difficult decisions:
"Survival has two faces, and moving forward has two as well. It's as if we're choosing our way to die, with no other option. 50/50."
Professor Juan spoke in a heavy tone, full of hesitation and concern:
"Then let's move while we search. We might die, we might survive... but we won't know what awaits us unless we move."
Mahyar replied bitterly, burdened by harsh reality:
"I know each of you has a life, loving families, friends, and dreams... and I know you don't want to die. But walking aimlessly into the unknown is a slow suicide. Let's wait here in the hope that someone will come back to rescue us from this mess."
Juan responded firmly, as if despair had completely seized him:
"Hope, thinking, and analysis won't change anything. What we need now is tangible action, something real we can do."
Mahyar looked at him sharply, trying to suppress his emotions, and said coldly:
"Don't be emotional, Juan. Don't forget we're with many students. How will we survive without water and food if we keep walking?"
Juan quickly retorted, insisting on his words:
"That's why I want to move quickly before we lose anyone."
Suddenly, Amer stood up, as if time had paused around him for a moment. Silence fell, and everyone exchanged stunned glances. Then he spoke in a deep voice, as if declaring a truth in a sudden moment of awareness:
"We're in a different world."